Trade and Trade Finance in the 2008-20+L460609 Financial Crisis

Global merchandise trade sharply declined in late 2008 and early 2009, and some press and financial market reports assigned a large role for the decline to trade finance. However, the available evidence suggests that shocks to trade finance were not the major factor in the decline in trade. Surveys of commercial banks by the IMF and others found that while bank-intermediated trade finance fell in value during the crisis, it fell by less than merchandise trade. As a result, the share of world trade supported by bank-intermediated trade finance increased despite higher pricing margins. Other explanations appear to account for the bulk of the reduction in international trade.Bank credit;Banking;Banks;Global Financial Crisis 2008-2009;survey, export credit, surveys, export credit insurance, export credit agencies, exporters, exporter, merchandise exports, export credits, probability, financial crises, exports of goods, samples, world exports, share of world exports, export performance, trade facilitation, export financing, trade flows, economic downturns, export transactions, exporting firms, guarantee facilities, export sectors, working capital guarantees, goods export, correlation